davethegrinch.net

Sarah says:

Amsterdam. David and I have two seperate sets of friends from Seattle who visited Amsterdam and fell so completely head-over-heels in love with this city that one set takes Dutch lessons in Seattle and visits here whenever they can and the other set actually moved here. Well, almost. The wife is here and is currently hosting us. The husband is on his way - he just has to finish law school first.

Recognizing that this was too much of a coincidence and fully appreciating the luck of having a friend and free bed in Europe, we just had to see what all the fuss was/is about. And, of course, we wanted to see our long-time friend, Beth.

So far on this journey we’ve had adventure, we’ve had culture, challenges, beach, heat, sun, all the craziness the world has to offer….but this. Now this is vacation.

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Sarah says:

Of course not. Though David has taken on the role of lambaster-du-jour toward old England, even he would agree that there was balance and, as his life partner, I will oblige and provide it.

We boarded a 1980’s Air India 747 and flew our tired and weary bones out of the third world and into the first world at the end of May. We went on to spend three solid weeks in the United Kingdom, the longest consecutive stay for David since moving to the States 10 years ago, to refresh, regroup and bask in the luxury of wearing clean underwear every single day (c’mon, you don’t like to admit it, you think it’s only a disgusting boy thing, but a backpacker has to make sacrifices and my own dirt doesn’t disgust me as much as I thought, I guess (more…)

Dave Says:
Guide books of Britain say this about food: “Britain is not known for its cuisine but things are picking up” and “Britains still eat to live rather than live to eat”. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy wisely avoids a separate category for British cuisine but one could apply its short entry for Earth directly to the general apathy surrounding restaurants in England: “Mostly Harmless”. Not since Malaysia have we seen such a widespread malaise when it comes to dining out.

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Dave says:

Even though I’m comfortably enveloped by the house in which I grew up, firmly entrenched in the suburbs of my youth, warmly ensconced in the Home Counties of England, that is no excuse to be lax in my observations of the weird and wonderful cultures of the world even if it is one I was once part of. This is the longest consecutive period I’ve spent in the UK since I climbed aboard the metaphorical tramp steamer ten years previous destined for the New World. Things have changed and not all for the best. In true British tabloid style, I now present part one of a multi part expose of the sordid and scandalous life of a once great nation.

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